


Gift for Coulson

by gwmclintock88



Series: Live Grenades [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Artist Steve!, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, Let's just call it sappy, Well - let's be honest - I'm not really sure how to classify it but it is a bit sad and happy, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 11:34:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwmclintock88/pseuds/gwmclintock88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coulson received an unexpected gift, delivered from an unexpecting person, and made by an unexpected fan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gift for Coulson

            Steve took a deep breath, followed by another one. And another one. His clearance afforded him every right to be standing here, but not the right of knowledge. Thankfully, this was one of the times Tony’s tenacity and intelligence worked in tandem.

With just a sliver of information, stolen from the SHIELD databases and confirmed with security footage, Steve drew the same conclusion as Tony did, just not as fast. For whatever reason, they were being kept in the dark. As a soldier, Captain Rogers understood and commended SHIELD for their efforts and rigid reliance upon structure. As a human being (something even JARVIS qualified as more of than anyone else in SHIELD), Steve remained pissed long enough to come up with a plan. After all, there were songs about that.

Tony contributed in his own way, but seemed to understand his need to do this alone. Their relationship took a turn for the better nearly three months after the fiasco with AIM and the Mandarian, when he finally crawled out of basic training (another problem he had with SHIELD) and read up on everything.

(The conversation started something like this: “You’re a better man than your father ever was.” This was immediately followed by dropped tools, startled scientists, and somehow silence from the ever speaking engineer. Steve kind of blocked out the rest, as they both managed to get skunk drunk, a feat he thought impossible for himself. After that, their working relationship turned into a solid, if often explosive friendship.)

Now, with the few pieces he needed in place and his work completed, Steve took the last few steps into an auxiliary base for SHIELD.  JARVIS sent the notification to his phone (a wonderful modern marvel, but he still was waiting on his flying car), only confirming the pattern of behavior he previous scouted.

Package in hand, Steve stepped through the doors, turning right instead of left toward the science wing. He knew which hallways to take, and without his mask or suit (or shield, which he kind of felt naked without), the scientists ignored him. After the initial screening, he needed little interaction with the security interfaces to get to where he needed to. And just like clockwork, he stepped up to the doorway just as a rail-thin man stepped out of it.

He made this choice because both of these scientists were likely to be absorbed in their work too much to take immediate notice of who he was and what he represented. When they worked together, even Tony had to take note of their actions. In the few moments they were split up, the distraction was enough for him to complete the mission.

“Pardon me,” Steve said, twisting the package away from the man as he passed.  The scientist barely took note, only side-stepping him and continuing on down the hallway, too engaged in the computer pad in his hands.

“Fitz, I thought we agreed we’d each spend at least five minutes away for each other.” The woman kept her back to him as he entered the lab. He took care not to touch anything, but the display in front of him of several mechanical parts reminded him of some type of grenade, though well beyond the basics.

“Sorry to disturb you ma’am,” Steve said. She spun, his voice startling her from her examination.  She was beautiful, but nothing about her stood out as stunning or alluring. Brown hair haphazardly framed an oval face, with a pert nose and brown, intelligent eyes filling the rest. She stared at him, lips made for smiling were now wide with shock. Her white lab coat hung off her frame, and a pair of safety goggles completed her outfit.  

“Who are you? How did you get down here?” She asked, hand over her chest. Her cheeks blushed cutely, and despite her embarrassment, she glared at him. Or tried to. She wasn’t a field agent, and despite her angry demeanor, at the moment she had nothing on her that could threaten him.

“I’m Steve, and I was wondering if you could do me a favor, Doctor Simmons.” He ignored her questions, kept both hand visible and held the package up.  Even if she wasn’t visible armed, this was still SHIELD. People hid weapons in the strangest of places.

“How do you know my name? Wait, no, you’re an agent right?” He nodded, and technically, she was correct. Her eyes tracked his body, moving up and down several times as the blush became more predominant. He did his best to hold back his own, smiling lightly at her.

“I was hoping you could give this to your boss.” He held out the package, wrapped neatly in black paper. “Nothing dangerous. They scanned it already when I came in, but if you’d like to scan it before giving it to him, please do.”  He tried to reassure her, appear non-threatening. He was of course, but it wouldn’t be polite to scare the young woman any more than he had.

“What?” She stepped forward, away from her table. The display fell, hiding whatever she had been working on from view. Her gaze moved from him down to the package he held out to her. “You know my boss?”

“I’ve reviewed your entire team,” Steve said, this time unable to hold back his embarrassment. “In the short amount of time you’ve been active, you’ve all done remarkable things. But Agent Coulson was there for me when I…woke up. He helped me realize what I could do in this world and the good that would come with it.” Her hands brushed his as she reach out, small fingers gentle brushing against his larger ones.  “How is it to work with him? I never really received the chance?”

“Thanks,” she mumbled at his compliment of her team. She glanced up at him under a fall of a hair, a small, but sincere smile on her face.   “He’s…he’s fiercely protective of us.” She admitted to him, smiling as if it was some state secret she was sharing. “I’d never been in the field before, and well, he gave me the chance. Not that I’m in the field or anything, but I always thought I was going to be a lab rat. You know?” Steve had to chuckle at the idea. Technically, he still was.

“Yeah, I hadn’t expected my life to turn out like this, but here I am,” he said.

“Here you are,” she repeated, her lips moving slightly, but her eyes shining with a smile.

The mission was complete, the package handed off, but he wanted to stay, reassure the young scientist of her value to SHIELD. To him. He knew their help made sure Coulson could be in the field, and while even Tony couldn’t hack past level 9 clearance (yet), the agent should have died from that wound. Anyone helping him, protecting him, was good people in Steve’s books.  After several silent, but not awkward moments of them just smiling and staring at each other, he finally spoke again. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Oh, right, yes, right” she said, spinning around to look at the work station behind her. “I’ll make sure he gets this.” She spun back around, her hair flowing around her and settling back

“He’ll know who it’s from when he opens it,” Steve said. “But tell him I say hi. Okay?”

“Okay,” she nodded, her hair bouncing out and back into her face. The wild movements of her hair conflicted with the strength of her posture, her being. His fingers itched to draw dancing, but confused eyes glancing at both him and the world around her.  

Another silent, but not awkward moment before Steve realized he needed to leave. Saying his goodbyes (and thanking God for not making a complete fool of himself), he side-stepped the rail-thin man again (Doctor Leo Fitz), who hadn’t noticed his arrival or departure.  As he walked back toward the entrance, he smiled to himself, proud of both talking to a pretty woman without being a bumbling fool and completing the mission. He only hoped Tony hadn’t hacked the security cameras again and say everything.

**I0I**

            By the time Jemma recovered from the very strange meeting with a very strange, but stunningly attractive agent, Fitz had already returned and begun working next to her.  She tried to put the sincere ocean-blue eyes out of her mind, and concentrate on her work.  It wasn’t vital by any means, but there were refining the stun weapons, and had grabbed some of the other toys R&D thought up, but hadn’t quite perfected, at least to FitzSimmons standards.

            Even with her work, something which never failed to drag her back to reality, she kept glancing over at the perfectly wrapped package sitting on top of a stack of reports she needed to review when they got back to the Bus and next to the untouched sandwich Fitz grabbed from the mess for her.

            “Ready to go?” Skye poked her head into the lab. “Ooh, what’s this?” Immediately, her eyes were drawn to the package Steve left. After handing it to Agent Coulson, she planned on asking him what the man’s last name was. Maybe then get up the courage to ask for his number or email or something. For someone so incredibly put together (and an agent of SHIELD), he spoke normally and not a complete tool, like Ward still could be.

            Fitz finally noticed the package as well. She stopped him from prodding it with his stylus and mussing up the perfectly wrapped paper. “This for you?”

            “If it had been, I’d have opened it by now,” she said, rolling her eyes. She shared a smile with Skye, nonverbally agreeing on the stupidity of the males of the species.  “It’s for Agent Coulson. Someone dropped it off here.” She turned around, collecting her paper work and pad, trying to hid the blush that seemed to pop up again at the thought of Steve poured into that suit of his.

            “Who? I mean, obviously it’s another agent.” Her body now back under her control (hopefully), she turned back to look at Skye.

            “His name is Steve,” she said.

            “He? He cute?” Before she had a chance to answer affirmative to Skye’s question, Fitz stuck his fingers in his ear, chanting some god-awful words in an effort to ignore what she said. Another roll of her eyes, she grabbed the package from Skye and followed him out the door. 

            Ignoring the package, she spoke with Skye as they headed out of the area.  Despite receiving clearance, Skye seemed more comfortable with the ‘squints’ as she called them, choosing to spend time with them, rather than in the more bureaucratic side of the facility. They were temporarily grounded, which meant sleeping in the Bus as it sat in a hanger, rather than while it flew to destinations unknown.

            Ward was waiting for them at the hanger, glanced at the package but said nothing as Fitz performed again in order to stop her from responding. Of course, Fitz’s childish methods were nothing to stop Skye.

            “It’s for AC.” She said, bounding up the ramp into the Bus.  “Mystery hot agent dropped it off with Jemma.” Skye pointed at her, smiling before she began to explain the scenario, or what she had managed to piece together. The hacker even pulled out her tablet, and a few quick swipes, some jabs, and generally working her skills, managed to get the security feed for the lab where they were working in for the day.

            “Skye!” Ward cried, trying to chastise her.

            “Relax, I just hopped  onto the feed. I’ve got security clearance, at least enough to run traces. Besides, it falls under protection details. Can’t have anyone messing with our scientists.” She spoke and worked quickly, so much so that Ward didn’t even have a chance to respond. Jemma even struggled to say something.  “Here he is.”

            An image appeared on their screen of Steve, except it was the back of his head. “He’s huge.” Skye’s eyes grew wide, glancing back at the screen and Jemma. “He’s so on my zombie apocalypse team.” She tapped her tablet a few more times before swearing. “Damn. Someone’s blocking the other feed from the hallway.”

            “We leave some of it open as a test for agents. If they can get in, they are required to report it. If an enemy gets in, then we follow them out.” Coulson said as he appeared out of some shadow. Again.

            Jemma held her chest, trying to calm her pounding heart. “Sir. We were just talking about…”

            “Someone visited Jemma.” Skye said.

            “You’re still writing it up,” he said before looking at one half of FitzSimmons.  “Who was he? And what’s that?”

            “Oh,” she held out the package to her boss, glancing over at Fitz. “He said it was for you. Scanned and everything. So, it should be secure. He was an agent, otherwise he couldn’t get back to the labs. At least, I think he was an agent. It is possible he was a spy, but then he would have been deep cover at the very least, given his familiarity of the facility.” Everyone but Coulson looked at her,. She finally took a breath as her stream of thought stopped. “And his name was Steve.”

            “Steve?” Coulson paused in his removal of the paper.  Already half of it was off, showing a white box underneath the paper.   “I’ll be in my office.”

            “Sir?” Jemma asked, reaching out for him.  “Is everything okay?”

            “I…yes,  everything is fine. I’m fine. Please, settle yourself. We’ve got a new mission.” Coulson moved quickly, taking the steps two at a time as he hurried toward his office/cabin.

            “What the hell just happened?” Skye asked. “And does this mean I still need to do the homework?”

**I0I**

            Sitting in his chair, surrounded by the mementos from other times and relics of heroes past, he stared at the white box now resting on his desk. Inside rested something, probably a gift, but he wasn’t sure if he felt worth it.

Coming back from Tahita was not as easy as he told everyone. Nor was it as magical as he told everyone. He was off, not the same man who defending a gas station with a bag of flour, who listened to Clint when made another call, when Natasha struggled to deal with Stark. When Steve came back to life. He was not that man anymore, his gut did not say the same things it did before, his muscles failed to respond exactly as he remembered.

Instead, he fell back on the structure of SHIELD, on the hierarchy and clearance levels. On being the best agent he could be, reestablishing his abilities and skills necessary for his rank and clearance, these became his goals. And once he was back in the field, back from Tahiti, he worked on establishing his own Avengers, of people who wanted to help the world but just needed that little extra push.

Just like he gave the real Avengers. Except this time, he hoped he never had to pay with his life.

But he hadn’t contacted any of them. Not even Clint or Natasha, his agents.

Yet somehow, Steve found out. And if Steve knew, Stark knew. He wasn’t sure if his agents knew of his revival, but his gut at least seemed right to say if Stark knew, the rest of the Avengers did. Only question was why neither of them had woken him up in the middle of the night to ask him to explain. 

Not the only question, but he never was one to put anything off that was immediately in front of him.

Lifting the lid off the box, he stared at the card resting on glass in a black, simple frame. Staring at it, he felt  his eyes  cloud over a bit, making everything seem bleary.

There was nothing special about the frame or the matting. Rather, it centered the viewers’ eyes on the card. Hand drawn and in the styling of his re-collected Captain America cards, except this one was a drawing of him, holding the Captain’s shield. He stood in his black jacket, white shirt, black tie, the shield held like the Captain, like Steve held it. Strong, sure of himself,  staring toward the future. Everything Captain America stood for, and here it was, draw in an image of him.

A piece of paper rested just beneath the card, though not in the frame. He slide it off, keeping his eyes on the card, as if he was waiting for it to change. Or for his eyes to clear a little more. The piece of paper was folded, and it took a moment for his hands to stop shaking.

Blinking, he rubbed his eyes, ignoring the dampness beneath them as he stared at the clear, but handwritten words on the paper.

_Agent Coulson,_

_I understand it must have been hard for you while you were recovering and that it still might be hard for you. But I wanted to say thank you for everything you did for us._

_You made the Avengers, Agent Coulson, not Fury, not Loki, it was you. You brought us to together, and showed us what it meant to be a hero. For me, I needed that more than anyone else did._

_I woke up, and the world moved on. It changed. Everything moved faster, except the people.  The people were moving slower, hiding behind their screens. So many were so angry all the time. Yelling about the little things that could make life so great. They moved slower, but they couldn’t stop and smell the roses._

_When I came to SHIELD, when Fury brought me onto the Helicarrier, I felt like everything was just like back in the army…except it still felt angry. And sad._

_Then you talked with me, asked to sign the cards, I didn’t realize what that meant to you to ask that, to ask me to recognize someone else’s strength. Until it was too late, and I couldn’t sign them for you._

_You took what I think is called the last full measure. I thought the world had changed, and maybe it had, in ways that didn’t really matter. When it came down to it, you stood up to a bully, and told him ‘no.’ It cost you almost everything, but it showed me everything as well. There were still heroes in this new century._

_You are a hero, Agent Coulson. My hero._

_So, I guess that’s all I want to say. If you ever want to talk, we’re here for you, though from the sounds of things, you’ve made another pretty good team out of a bunch of misfits._

_Tony says you can drop by whenever you want._

_Sincerely, your #1 fan,_

_Captain Steve Rogers_

Underneath his name, Coulson easily identified the familiar scrawl of Natasha.

_We will be speaking soon. Glad to hear you’re okay._

He let out a laugh, having to clear his eyes of the dampness again. He gently placed the letter back on the frame. He stared at it for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts when someone knocked on his door.

“Come in,” he said, his voice cracking slightly, but not noticeably. Well, noticeably to anyone other than train spies.

“Sir, is this okay? I mean, I don’t want to interrupt anything,” Jemma stuck her through the doorway.

“Yes, Jemma, everything is fine.” He leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk. He stared at him, keeping himself impassive as he wrestled with the letter and the card. “Was there something you forgot?”

“Yes sir,” she said, nodding rapidly. “Steve told me to tell you he says ‘hi.’”  He really couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on his face.  

“Thank you.” She tilted her head and stared at him. “For delivering his message and the package.”

“Right, yes, not a problem, sir.” She smiled widely, happy to follow the rules. “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, how do you know Steve? And what’s his last name?” Now, he couldn’t help the laughter, though Jemma’s smile disappeared.  “Sorry to bother you, sir. I’ll leave you alone.”

“No, Jemma, come back here.” He motioned he to take a seat. “I wasn’t laughing at you. Just…” He smiled widely, and glanced at card. “What do you know about a man named Steven Rogers?” 

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after Avengers movie, but before Captain America: Winter Soldier. The timeframe for AoS is a little more wibbly-wobble, so just go with it.
> 
> Marvel/Disney own Captain America and Agents of SHIELD


End file.
